What is Sundeala board™ and what are oits history, composition, and properties of this board used in art works, pinboard or tackboard, and possibly in siding, furniture, and other products.

Page top illustration: A "teacherboard" or Sundeala pin board as listed by Amazon.co.uk in 2020.

This article series describes various kinds of building materials and give the history and dates of their first (and in some cases last) use in residential and light commercial construction.

Sundeala Board Materials

History & examples uses of of Sundeala Board™ and other similar board products to which this term may have been applied - contributions invited.

The soft coloured board products shown here are examples of Sundeala's current FR [fire resistant] pinboard or teacherboard.

[Click to enlarge any image].

Sundeala board is a rigid or semi-rigid cellulose product made from recycled paper, produced first in 1898 by the Impermeable Millboard Company Ltd, in the U.K., and who continue to the present as the Sundeala company. Below we include contact information and more about the company.

For well over a century Sundeala board has been widely used in soft cellulose board products and since 1937 the company has supplied pinboards or tackboards such as those used in schools. Sundeala board has also been used as a backer in some art restoration products, as we cite extensively below.

Shown at page top, a soft tack-board or pin-board version of this product sold in 9mm or 12mm thickness and made of 100% recycled paper (cellulose fibres) remains in wide distribution and appers in product searches for sundeala board, tackboard, pinboard, even if made by another fabricator. The board is available in seven different colours.

It is possible that some other paper-based board products have been referred to somewhat generically as Sundeala board but that were not produced by that company.

Watch out: where used as a pinboard or tackboard in schools or other public buildings, particularly where the pinboard is in a public area or egress or hallway, fire regulations may require that a fire-resistant version of the board be used, else that such boards be removed.

The U.K. Sundeala company produces Sundeala Fr Board, that the company says is the only UK-manufactured pin board that meets building regulations for use in circulation areas and along protected fire escape routes.

Sundeala K Board is Class D-s2, d0 to BS EN 13501-1, which meets the minimum performance classification for use in some areas of school buildings as laid out in the BB 100 mandatory fire safety guidelines for schools.

If you are fitting boards in fire-sensitive area such as corridors or circulation areas, please refer to Sundeala FR Board which surpasses the mandated Class B requirements for such spaces. - Sundeala 2020/10/27 original source: https://sundeala.co.uk/sundeala-k-board/

As you will read in some of the citations and articles we include, while widely used as an art board or painting substrate or backer, experts have been quite critical of that use, describing the board as too soft, crumbling at edtes, and easily damaged in those applications.

Other examples of soft cellulose products that are used in construction and occasionaly in artworks or other applications are

at FIBERBOARD SHEATHING IDENTIFICATION

See also HARDBOARD MASONITE™ & OTHER BRANDS where we describe the use of other board products, often wood- or cellulose-based, in art as well as in building construction.

Sundeala Board Research & Uses in Art & Conservation

Many of the references to Sundeala board's use in art focus on restoration and conservation issues. A quick look on Google Scholar (October 2020) for mention of Sundeala board as an art media finds 59 results including those listed here.

• Arya, Rina. "The Influence of Roy de Maistre on Francis Bacon." Religion and the Arts 21, no. 5 (2017): 607-622.
• Arya, Rina. "Wrestling with angels." Art and Christianity 87 (2016): 6-10.
  Excerpt:
  He also picked up various skills and practices, including using pastel and oil on sundeala board, a practice adopted by de Maistre, which was observed in Bacon's Tate triptych of c. 1944.
• Bacon, Artist Francis. "Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion." Wikipedia (1944): 310.
• Board, United Soybean. "Products Guide." (2004).
• Bradley, Susan M. "Conservation aspects of storage and display." Manual of Curatorship: A Guide to Museum Practice (1992): 468.
• Brüggerhoff, Stefan, Gerhard Eggert, Stefan Simon, Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste, and Am Weißenhof. "3.1 Das Museum–Salzeinflüsse auf Hülle und Objekte." Salzschäden an Kulturgütern 52, no. 2: 30.
  [Sundeala und Korlite]
• Bullard, Daphne J., Brian JR Blench, and Brian V. Harper. "A Costume Display Case for a Museum Loan Service." Costume 4, no. 1 (1970): 49-52.
  Excerpt:
  The costume was mounted on Sundeala panels covered with coloured felt - in this case Fuchsia
  
• Daley, Michael, HERITAGE INDUSTRY ABUSES THE ELEPHANT in KLIMPT's ROOM, [PDF] ArtWatch, U.K. (2014) , retrieved 2020/10/25 original source: http://artwatch.org.uk/author/artwatchuk/page/4/
  Excerpts:
  
  One of Lucas’s “advanced” technical wheezes (which was concealed from the trustees and the public) was to iron the canvas painting onto a double laminate (‘Sundeala’) board of compressed-paper.
  
  Such boards were used on many of the gallery’s largest paintings and have now become unstable. - p. 81
  ...
  The National Gallery’s restorers made a whole series of mega-bungles with some of its greatest large works, such as Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne, Sebastiano’s The Raising of Lazarus, and Seurat’s Bathers at Asnières. Such works were glued down – flattened – onto sheets of Sundeala Board – a proprietary board made of compressed paper.
  
  That board has proved unsuitable. It has lost its initial rigidity and now flexes alarming when handled or moved. Not all of conservation’s clowns live in Egypt, Spain or China. - p. 132
  
• DeWild, Martin, A., "A vacuum-relining apparatus for general use." Studies in conservation 4, no. 2 (1959): 73-77.
  Excerpt:
  The top plate was fixed with small brass screws and bolts at intervals of 10 cm. The bottom of the box consists of Sundeala Board ('A' quality) of t in. thickness [3]. Its inner surface is covered with t mm. aluminium sheet 
• Dunkerton, Jill & Helen Howard, Sebastiano del Piombo’s ‘Raising of Lazarus’: A History of Change [PDF] National Gallery Technical Bulletin 30th anniversary volume, 2009
  
  Excerpts:
  The painting is mounted, therefore, on a support constructed with ‘sundeala’ composite board outer faces and a core of paper honeycomb (note 39). In spite of its wooden edges and an internal wooden framework this panel is now showing signs of instability, with a tendency to flex and twist when the painting is moved, an operation which is therefore avoided as far as possible.
  
  Whether the boards were of the usual poplar or a more unusual species, such as the cherry which has been … glass fibre with aluminium honeycomb cores.38 The painting is mounted, therefore, on a support constructed with 'sundeala' composite board outer faces and … (2009): 26-51.
• Fan, Mitzi, Peter William Bonfield, PROCESS FOR MAKING COMPOSITE PRODUCTS FROM FIBROUS WASTE MATERAL [PDF] U.S. Patent No. 8,034,271 (2011) Sundeala Ltd Original Assignee
  
• FIBERBOARD SHEATHING IDENTIFICATION - web article, describes other MDF and soft cellulose or wood-based board products.
• Hermans, Johan, Peter Meehan, and Barbara Heiberger. "The blackett baby house: Conservation in miniature." The conservator 15, no. 1 (1991): 33-38.
  Excerpt:
  The entire Baby House was placed on a thick sheet of Sundeala, a compressed paper board, coated with Vinamul PVA emulsion and covered with a sheet of 5mm Plastazote. To avoid separation all the …
• Lucas, A. W. "The transfer of easel paintings." Studies in Conservation 6, no. sup1 (1961): 165-168.
  Excerpt:
  bound paper fibres such as 'Sundeala' board has been found satisfactory. It absorbs adhesives well and is soft enough to be cut away easily. It can be reinforced at the back with light bulk materials such as expanded paper or expanded polystyrene so that the boards can easily …
• Lucas, Arthur, & Joyce Plesters, Titian’s 'Bacchus and Ariadne', An account of the condition, conservation, materials and techniques Arthur Lucas and Joyce Plesters [PDF] National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume 2, 1978
  Excerpt:
  The canvas was therefore stuck down with a wax-resin adhesive onto a composite solid support consisting of two sheets of 'Sundeala' synthetic board sandwiching a honeycomb paper core.
  
  The construction provided a non-warping rigid support having solidity without excessive weight.
• Mills, John F. "Treatment of a bomb damaged Painting." IIC News 3, no. 1: 9-10.
  Excerpt:
  The canvas was removed from the old stretchers and attached to Ü4 in. Sundeala medium hard board with a polyvinyl acetate emulsion. Missing areas were filled with acrylic emulsion paint, and final touching in was done with egg tempera …
• Mordka, Artur. "Aesthetic Qualities of Francis Bacon’s Canvases and the Issue of Value Response." Kultura i Wartości 09 (2014): 5-21.
  Excerpt:
  Unprimed canvas and its role in the creation of artistic violence and a terrible beauty Bacon in his early phase of creation painted on Sundeala board which '...held pastel well'. Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion was
• Pearce, Emma. Artists' Materials: The Complete Source book of Methods and Media. Arcturus Publishing, 2019.
  
• Plunkett, Oliver, "Proceedings of the conference on the postgraduate medical centre. The museum in postgraduate teaching." Postgraduate medical journal 42, no. 484 (1966): 115.
  Excerpt:
  metal tubing that gives a highly professional finish and these enclose screens of Sundeala iboard, which 
• Protheroe, Keren. "Quality Stitch by Stitch: Clothing and Associated Publications Held in the Marks & Spencer Company Archive." Costume 39, no. 1 (2005): 100-112.
  Excerpt:
  For each display there is a list of materials followed by a point- by-point method of construction: 'cut and Copydex a strip of Sundeala board between the two showcards approximately 2" from the lower edge', and so on.
• Rotondi, P. "La formation des conservateurs et des restaurateurs." Studies in Conservation 6, no. 4 (1961): 149-152.
  Excerpt:
  Sundeala Sundeala Board Columbia House, London,
• Russell, Joanna A study of the materials and techniques of Francis Bacon (1909 - 1992). [PDF] Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University, Newcastle (2010)
  This version was downloaded from Northumbria Research Link: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/3156/
  Excerpt:
  The most complete discussion of Bacon‟s method occurs in the catalogue for the 1985 retrospective of Bacon‟s work at the Tate Gallery in the „Note on Technique‟ by Andrew Durham (1985). This discusses Bacon‟s choice of materials and methods of working, based on conversations with the artist conducted in 1984.
  
  The range of materials used is described as limited compared to other artists. His early use of Sundeala board is ascribed to reasons of economy, although Bacon found it „held pastel well‟. Primed canvas, which Bacon used when he was able to afford it, was less effective in this regard, but by turning the canvas and working on the unprimed side, it met his needs well.
  
  Artists‟ oil colour is used predominantly for the image, while emulsion housepaints are used for backgrounds. Additions of sand and dust are also mentioned, as is spray paint and Letraset. - p. 15
  
  ... in early works Sundeala board was used, which is soft and easily crumbles at the edges
  
  
• Straub, Rolf E. "[Der vierte Stuttgarter Restauratorenkurs] Das Problem des verwölbten Holztafelbildes." Denkmalpflege in Baden-Württemberg–Nachrichtenblatt der Landesdenkmalpflege 11, no. 3 (1968): 71-77.
  Except:
  Sundeala Board Co. Ltd.,
• Sundeala Company: Sundeala Ltd, Middle Mill, Cam, Dursley GL11 5LQ UK, Website: https://sundeala.co.uk/contact/ Tel: 01453 708689 Email: enquiries@sundeala.co.uk History: https://sundeala.co.uk/sundeala-story/
  Excerpts:
  Since 1898: Sundeala starts life as the Patented Impermeable Millboard Company Ltd when Daniel M Sutherland begins to manufacture the very first Fibreboard (originally known as Millboard) in Sunbury-on-Thames from discarded softwood and fabric scraps, pulped with well water to release the cellulose fibres.
  ...
  Sundeala also became popular as an art canvas, used by Francis Bacon as a canvas for many works including Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, C.1944 using oils and pastels (now on display at the Tate London).
  
• Tate Museum, Bacon, Francis. "Suggested terms." tate.org.uk https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/bacon-three-studies-for-figures-at-the-base-of-a-crucifixion-n06171
  
  Excerpt: All three panels are a lightweight 'Sundeala' board, which, like hardboard, was also used by Bacon's friends Roy de Maistre and Graham Sutherland as a cheap alternative to canvas.[2] Bacon's boards were not in pristine condition: there were shallow bruises on the right hand …
• Sundeala K-Board PRODUCT GUIDE [PDF] (2017) retrieved 2020/10/27 original source: https://sundeala.co.uk/sundeala-k-board/
• Sundeala BOARD SCHOOL FIRE LEAFLET [PDF] Op. Cit. offers fire safety advice to schools and teachers. This document includes a table the permits teachers to check the fire-rating of their Sundeala pinboard.
  Excerpts:
  
  There are only two legally recognised fire safety standards for notice boards in the UK:
  
  • European testing for Reaction to Fire (EN13501-1:2007+A1:2009) - fire resistance ratings from B (highest) to F (lowest)
  
  • British Standard BS476 parts 6 and 7 - fire resistance ratings 0 (highest) to 3
  
  Your fire-rated boards must be certified compliant with one or other of these standards.
  
  If you find RED lettering [on the rear face of the board], this denotes your board is EN 13051 Class B fire resistant.
• Thickett, David. "Sealing of MDF to prevent corrosive emissions." The Conservator 22, no. 1 (1998): 49-56.
  Excerpt:
  Wood and wood products such as plywood, blockboard, medium board (Sundeala and Korlite) and medium density fibreboard (MDF) are used extensively in the display and
• Thompson, Richard James Hollister, PhD, FATIGUE AND CREEP IN WOOD BASED PANEL PRODUCTS [PDF] (1996) University of Bath
  Excerpt:
  
  3.4 Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF)
  
  MDF is one of the fourteen types of fibre building board described in BS 1142, 1989. These can be divided into three broad groups based upon their densities: hardboaids (density exceeding 800 kg/m^), mediumboards (density 350 kg/m^-800 kg/m^) and softboards (density less than 350 kg/m^).
  
  MDF was first made in the USA in 1966, although wood fibre building boards were first produced by Sundeala in Middlesex, UK in 1898 - p. 25
• Timbmet, RAW PRODUCTS USAGE GUIDE [PDF] retrieved 2020/10/27 original source: http://www.timbmet.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/8439-Raw-Board-Products-Guide-FINAL.pdf
  This catalog includes current Sundeala products such as Sundeala K Pinboard, a pinable sheet material made of 100% recycled waste paper.
  
  Excerpts:
  Founded in 1942, Timbmet is a major UK importer, distributor and supplier of Timber and Panel products.
• Wyld, Martin & Jill Dunkerton, The Transfer of Cima's ‘The Incredulity of S. Thomas’, The physical history of the painting up to its acquisition by the National Gallery in 1870 [PDF] National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume 9, 1985
  
  Excerpts:
  The three Eltoline tissue layers and the cheesecloth all extended 15 cm beyond the edge of the picture.
  
  5. A temporary support was made of Sundeala (oil-bound paper fibre board) 1 cm thick with 5 cm paper honeycomb and 8 mm hardboard behind it, glued with epoxy. This board was cushioned with two layers of Eltoline tissue laid onto it, and Melinex was stretched over the tissue.
  
  6. The panel was placed face-down on the temporary support and the facing layers were trimmed and taped to the Melinex so that no debris could accidentally penetrate between the picture and the support.
• Wikipedia: Bacon, Artist Francis. "Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion." Wikipedia (1944): 310.
  Excerpt:
  
  [S]hould feature paintings pre-dating 1944.1507 The triptych The panels of Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion are painted on light Sundeala boards, a material Bacon was ...
  

...

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